


I Don't Know What it Means (But I Know That I Want You)

by brittanablog



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Slow Burn, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-01-01 12:58:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18334877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brittanablog/pseuds/brittanablog
Summary: Under the leadership of Unit Chief Emily Prentiss, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit is the best it's ever been. That is, until bonds are tested between Prentiss and Agent Jennifer Jareau--one of the unit's longest-tenured members--after Agent Jareau learns of Emily's budding new relationship. Tensions flare and awkward situations abound as the women are forced to take stock of their feelings for one another, all while trying to hide them from their merry band of profilers.





	1. The Bar

**Author's Note:**

> Slow burn. This will play around with the timeline of the show a bit, in that it is after Hotch has left and Prentiss has taken charge, but Morgan is still there, as are Tara Lewis and Matt Simmons. JJ never married Will, and never had any kids. All other personal lives of the agents are canon.
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and let me know by leaving a review! <3

"Oh yessir, you gorgeous, omniscient silver fox, you. Your timing could only be more perfect if your timing was named Penelope Garcia!"

Everyone around the table chuckled at Garcia as Rossi set down a tray of tequila shots on the table. As everyone reached for their shot glass and lime wedge, Rossi noted the lone glass left untouched.

"Alright. Who is turning down my generosity?"

"Your gen-er-ROSSI-ty?!" a slightly buzzed Garcia chimed in again, wagging her eyebrows up and down and laughing at her own joke. Rossi groaned at the bad word play, but Morgan reached across the table and high-fived the tech. "Good one, baby girl." Penelope grinned.

"Sorry, Dave, that's me. I don't do tequila. Too many cheap shots ended in too many bad nights in college," JJ said.

"Oh, no ma'am. I know you didn't just equate this Don Julio Real to some college dive's well swill?! Trust me, JJ. This is nothing like any tequila you've ever had." She looked at him, defiant and skeptical, until he added with a little too much sincerity for JJ to bear, "What, don't you trust me?"

With that, JJ sighed and reached out for her shot glass. Everyone beamed and held their glasses in the center, looking to Rossi for a toast.

"I've been at this a long time. Longer than some of you have been alive," he paused, notably eyeing JJ and Reid, "... but I can honestly say that this is the best group I've ever worked with. Our job, and our days, are usually difficult and surrounded by trauma. Without a group like this, none of us would survive it. But we do survive it, and that allows for days like today. Days where... just occasionally, we pull off a miracle." Everyone was nodding and smiling, knowingly.

"To the good days," Rossi finished. Through chimes of "here here!" and "to the good days!" all eight team members clinked their glasses and downed their shots, Tara laughing at Reid's face when Garcia's lime shot him in the eye. Their conversation slowly returned to normal--more laughing; more rounds of drinks. That day had, indeed, been a good day. They had been called in the morning before and sent to New Jersey after a school bus of 7th graders had been hijacked on the way to a field trip that morning. Within hours they had located the bus, and could visibly see all children were accounted for and alive. The stand-off had lasted hours, with almost all of the team members taking turns trying to negotiate with the hostage-taker. Ultimately, after over 24-hours of negotiation, they caught him dozing off and were able to sneak to the side of the bus and disarm him through a window before he could get a shot off. Every single kid had been saved--unharmed--and the unsub taken into custody and would face trial. With his criminal history, they knew he would never again be a free man.

After a little while, Derek noticed Emily repeatedly checking her phone. "Prentiss," she looked up at him. "Please tell me they aren't calling us in?" For a moment, Emily looked confused, and then looked down at her phone and she realized why he was asking. "Oh... no, no. This is... not work." She couldn't help but grin slightly.

"Oh, Miss Prentiss. Do tell!" Garcia blurted out, drawing everyone's attention to Emily, who promptly turned several shades of red.

"Please tell me you've got a date with that hottie you were telling me about the other day?" Morgan added.

"You know, some days I really really hate working with a bunch of profilers," Emily said, a joking frustration evident in her voice. "Well you're all going to read it on my face anyways, if Garcia doesn't read it by hacking into my text messages first..."

Garcia pretended to look offended before immediately nodding instead.

"Yes. I have a date. I'm actually going to have to leave here in about ten minutes. We've been trying to plan something for weeks but with our work schedules... nothing had ever worked out thus far until we got back earlier tonight than I expected. It's new; I don't have much more to add... not that I'd tell you if I did," she finished, snarkily.

Everyone around the table had different types of smiles on their faces. "Good for you, Emily," Rossi said first. Emily nodded and smiled.

After everyone seemed to return to their prior conversations, Emily reached into her purse to pull out some cash for her drinks before she left. While she was looking down, Derek asked, "What was her name again, Em? Danica? Veronica?"

"Monica," Emily said, matter-of-factly, still fishing around in her purse. With her head down, she missed the stunned look on JJ’s face.

"Monica! That's right. Monica. I'm going to need to see a picture of this girl sooner or later, Em, you know that, right?" Derek added, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be sure to get on that, Morgan," Prentiss replied.

"No need, my dear," Garcia added, fingers flying across the tablet she had whipped out of her bag. "Monica Garces. 32. Father is Ecuadorian, mother is from Connecticut. She is the youngest of three siblings and traveled a lot as a child because her father was a salesman for... it looks like a textiles company. First in her class at Stanford and top ten in her class at UC Berkley's Law School. Now a corporate attorney at a firm in DC doing most merger and acquisition work, it appears. Has a cute tri-color dog named Brice, never married, no kids. Here's her photo." Garcia finished, spinning the tablet around for everyone at the table to view.

"For fuck's sake, Garcia!" Prentiss yelped out, shaking her head. It was clear she wasn't really mad at the tech, but everyone else laughed when Garcia quickly set the tablet face down and turned ghost-white. "Too much? Yes yes, that was too much. Oh, I'm so sorry Emily, I'm just so happy for you and you know we care about you and I couldn't resist."

Emily sighed and shook her head, laughing. "No, I know. It's just that now all of you know as much about her as I do at this point," she laughed.

"Oh. Well, in that case, go. Go meet her and see those beautiful brown eyes in person and learn even more! Enjoy your date!" Garcia said as she spun Emily around about the shoulders and pushed her towards the door. Emily laughed again, "Alright, alright! See you all in the morning. 9am!" she waved over her shoulder as she walked out the front door.

"So... Monica, huh? I didn't know Prentiss dated women," Simmons said.

"Me neither," added Tara, looking around at the table to gauge how well-known this information was.

"You know, I didn't know that either, but I definitely should have figured it out. Studies have shown that approximately one in every eight people are gay, and many think that grossly underestimates the actual average in most places. There are eight of us in the unit," he added, looking around at Rossi, Morgan, Tara, Simmons, Garcia, and JJ, "chances were pretty high that one of us would not be straight."

"So," JJ said, softly, "did anyone know? Or was that just the most casual coming out ever?"

"Oh, I knew," Derek said. "So did Penelope here. I thought you knew, JJ? Or Rossi?" Derek looked at each of them. "It's not as if she hides it. Honestly, I think I found out similar to how each of you did tonight. The three of us"--he wagged his thumb between him and Garcia--"were here grabbing drinks one night and she casually mentioned an ex-girlfriend that had just walked in. Ever since, she and I have talked about women all the time. She's my favorite wingwoman," he smiled.

"Oh," JJ said. "Right."

Slowly, conversation shifted to a different topic and JJ excused herself to the restroom. She splashed a little cold water on her face and stared in the mirror for a moment before pulling her phone from her pocket. Before she realized what she was doing, she was searching "Monica Garces" on Facebook, and hastily opening the profile with the photo matching the one she saw earlier. JJ scrolled through profile and cover photos, stopping occasionally to stare at the woman on the screen. Her skin was flawless. She had bright light-brown eyes and dark hair that was slightly curly in most of the photos. Several included the dog Penelope had mentioned, and in more than a few she was laughing in a way that JJ felt like she could hear the sound coming from the screen. It was so clear what Prentiss would see in her.

JJ scrolled down further, and noted her security settings were set high enough that most of the rest of the content was blocked. The only "Friend" she could see was their one mutual--Emily Prentiss. JJ's stomach flipped slightly at seeing Emily's name affiliated with Monica's online--as if their connection was more real in that it was published. Scrolling a bit further, JJ realized she could see two of Monica's posts, though she wasn't quite sure why. The first was from a few weeks prior, and was just a photograph of a sunset with the caption, "Looking to the horizon--and it's gorgeous." JJ kept looking for a moment, still confused because she could see the security setting was still only set as "friends only," until she tapped the picture and saw it. Emily was tagged on the horizon of the photograph. JJ's stomach lurched once again. She backed out and scrolled back up to the more recent post and realized it had only been posted earlier that evening.

In the photo, two wine glasses are sitting on a coffee table with a fire place in the background. The crossed-legs of someone other than the photographer are caught just in the edge of the frame, and JJ immediately recognizes the pants and shoes Emily had been wearing. Above the photo, it was captioned, "Worth the wait. <3" and the whole post was tagged "--with Emily Prentiss."

JJ truly thought she was going to be sick. She was confused and hurt, and needed fresh air and her bed. She turned on her heels and went back out to the rest of the team at the table.

"Sorry guys, I'm gonna head out. I'm not feeling well all of a sudden. I think it was Rossi’s tequila. See you in the morning," she grabbed her bag and headed for the door, leaving calls of "Feel better!" and "Get some sleep!" from her colleagues behind as she shoved open the swinging doors, gasping desperately for air to fill her rapidly-tightening chest. She just had to get home.


	2. The Jet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The slow burn continues, as does JJ's not-so-subtle jealousy and uncertainty.

JJ was the first one in the office the next day, flipping the switch on the coffee pot she passed as she made her way to her desk. Her head was pounding, and at 8:15 in the morning she was regretting the three glasses of wine she'd had when she got home from the bar the previous night. Of course, it hadn't helped that once she finally dragged herself to bed, she didn't sleep well; she had tossed and turned in a dreamless fit all night.

JJ stared at her email inbox, willing her eyes to focus on the screen, when a steaming coffee cup being plunked down on her desk to her left startled her out of her mindless concentration.

"Oh, sorry, JJ. I didn't mean to startle you," Simmons said.

"Oh... no... no, it's not your fault. Thanks for the coffee. I guess I really need this-I'm only half awake," JJ responded.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked. JJ stared at him blankly. "From the tequila shot last night?" he prodded.

"Oh, yes! Yes. I feel fine. Just a bit tired is all, thanks," JJ smiled as she took the first scalding sip of her black coffee. Matt gave her a smile and walked around to his desk, his own coffee cup in hand. Slowly, the rest of their colleagues trickled in over the next hour, Garcia and Morgan loudly bickering about one thing or another as they got off the elevator together.

"Yeah, yeah... we will continue this later, mister!" Garcia piped as she passed through the bullpen towards her tech cave. "I'm hoping for it, baby girl!" Morgan called after her with a grin on his face.

JJ was now on her second cup of coffee and a bit more awake, calmly chatting with Tara about some paperwork they still had to file on the school bus case when Rossi popped his head out of his office.

"Has anyone seen Emily yet?"

They all looked around the room, confused. "Now that you mention it, no," noted Reid. "It's almost 9:30... it's really unlike her to be late," he finished.

JJ felt a chill run down her spine. "Has anyone talked to her since she left last night?" Everyone shook their heads no. JJ whipped out her phone and pulled up the Facebook app, wasting no time navigating to Monica Garces's profile again once she noted that Prentiss hadn't posted anything herself recently. JJ immediately felt sick again, the same pit in her stomach that she'd felt the night before. An hour before Monica had posted a photograph of bare, intertwined arms amidst crumpled bed sheets with the caption "And good morning to you, too." Just as JJ was trying to figure out exactly what to tell the rest of the team about the post, the elevator doors opened with a chime and out rushed a hurried Emily Prentiss. The pit in JJ's stomach rotated on its axis.

"Good. I'm glad you're all here," she stated coolly, "We have a case. Conference room in five." She blew into her office and shut the door behind her. JJ watched her through the blinds of her windowed walls as she dropped her briefcase beside her desk and started typing away at her keyboard. Minutes later, JJ was trying to focus on Garcia's presentation of their new case, while not focusing on the obvious hickeys she'd noticed on the left side of Emily's neck. There had clearly been a failed attempt to cover them with make-up, but they were unmistakable, and JJ couldn't make her brain focus on anything else.

"Will you call him, Jennifer?"

"What?" JJ mumbled, trying once again to turn her attention to the case presentation.

"Will you call Detective LaMontagne?" Prentiss repeated. It was only then that it really sunk in that their new case was in New Orleans, where a Detective they all knew led the major crimes unit.

"Ummm, yeah. Yeah, I'll call him from the jet," JJ finally responded.

"Good," Emily stated. "Wheels up in twenty. JJ, can I see you in my office?"

JJ just nodded. As everyone stood and went to their desks to grab their go-bags and prepare for another case, JJ shadowed Emily into her office, where Emily closed the door.

The two agents stood there, staring at each other for a few moments until Emily finally spoke.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Ummm, yeah, why wouldn't I be?" JJ responded, confused.

"You just seem really out of it today. Rossi texted me last night that you went home early not feeling well; he thought you may call out sick today."

"No, no, I feel fine. I'm fine," JJ said, defiantly.

"Are you sure?" Prentiss prodded, stepping closer to JJ and placing a hand on her shoulder.

JJ's breathing stilted when Emily touched her, but she quickly played it off. "Yeah, I feel fine. I just needed some sleep."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, yeah," JJ exhaled a laugh, "I'm fine, Emily."

"Okay, okay!" Emily chuckled. "You'll let me know if that changes, right?"

"Yeah, of course," JJ lied.

* * *

 

On the jet, the agents settled in, each casually and silently skimming their case files. After several minutes passed, Tara broke the silence.

"So, Prentiss, are we going to have to interrogate you or are you going to tell us about your date last night?" Almost everyone's head snapped up to watch her reaction.

Emily's cheeks tinged red as she shook her head. "You're on thin ice, Lewis," she said with an entirely unenforceable threat. Tara simply smiled.

"Come on, boss-mama, you know you're gonna have to tell us some time. May as well be while it-or she?-is still hot and fresh on your mind?" Morgan chimed in.

"Alright, fine," Prentiss audibly sighed and took a breath. "It was... amazing, okay? We had a wonderful night. She was smart and funny and kind and I'm really hoping we can close this case soon so I can get back and see her again," she paused, glancing around the jet to almost uniformly interested and grinning faces, "Is that enough for you vultures?"

A few chuckles filled the plane before being gruffly cut off by JJ.

"Shouldn't we be briefing about this case? The flight to New Orleans isn't very long."

Reid coughed very unsubtlely and everyone glanced around at each other before Emily quickly broke the silence, "Yeah, JJ's right. Let's get to work."

* * *

 

Three days later, the BAU's jet took off from the New Orleans airport at about 1:00 a.m. All of the agents were fully spent, having worked around the clock to track down a serial rapist that had killed his last victim when he felt the FBI closing in. It had been a really rough, exhausting case for all of the team. And after all of it, JJ had had to once again fend off unwanted advances from Detective Will LaMontagne. She regretted having been so blunt with him before boarding the jet, but she couldn't handle another 6 weeks of unrelenting messages from him following another New Orleans complaint. Now, as she slumped into a window seat, she quickly dozed off before the jet even took off.

What seemed like moments later, the plane was touching down in Quantico and the lights were slowly brightening.

JJ groggily came to, trying to reorient herself to her surroundings, until she felt a slight puff of breath and low whimper of an exhale on her neck. She turned slightly to her left to see Emily's head resting on her shoulder, face buried into her neck. JJ instinctively stiffened, feeling both warmed and entirely uncomfortable all at once.

"Ummmm... Emily..." she said, softly. "Emily, we're back. Time to get up." JJ started to tap Emily on her thigh, but stopped herself, intentionally poking her forearm instead. Emily slowly came-to with a bit of a laugh. "Did I fall asleep  _on you_? My bad, Jayje."

"Yeah. No problem," JJ said. As the plane came to a stop, JJ hastily stood up to grab her go bag and was the first one off the plane. As she walked off towards the parking lot, she missed the hurt and confused look on Emily's face.


	3. The Elevator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily goes to Garcia for advice, and confronts JJ--sort of.

It was earlier than usual, and the halls of the BAU were eerily quiet as Emily poured a cup of coffee. She turned from the counter and found herself staring at JJ's desk, stomach lurching with the anxiety that had been building for several weeks. Every day she knew with more certainty that she wasn't imagining the change in JJ's demeanor, and she wasn't imagining that her bad mood seemed disproportionately directed at herself. She had to do something.

Prentiss made her way down the hall and knocked gently on the door to Garcia's lair.  Hearing no reply, she eased the door open to Garcia's tech lair and peeked in, unsure if the analyst was even at the office that early. She couldn't help but smile at the sight before her: back to the door and headphones on, Emily noticed the avatar on the screens as Garcia's fingers deftly flew across the keys, profanities flying as she navigated the fantasy world of a video game. Emily waited a moment or two before lightly tapping Garcia's shoulder.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" Garcia yelled, whipping around in her chair and knocking her mouse off the desk in the process.

"It's me, it's just me!" Emily said, hands out to try to catch Garcia's flailing arms before she got whacked in the head.

"Oh, my god, Emily. You CANNOT DO THAT to me! I thought you were some psycho, cannabilistic serial killer and my perfectly made up face would be the next victim on the screen in the conference room!"

Emily laughed as she squeezed Penelope's shoulders, trying to calm her down. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I knocked and tried to get your attention but you couldn't hear me!" she said, pointing to the headphones.

"Ugh, yes, I get that. Sorry... I'm not used to anyone being here this early! It's my 'me' time where I get to live in a fantasy land where I control everything before our day starts and..."

"Garcia... breathe, honey," Emily cut in.

"Okay, yes, breathing, that's good," she said as she closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths and then opened her eyes.

"Better?"

"Yes. Better. Now, what brings you to my lair to give me an entirely premature heart attack at..."  she checked her watch, "... 6:53 a.m.?"

"Ugh," Emily slumped down as she pulled herself up to sit on the edge of Garcia's desk. "Couldn't sleep."

"Oh? Something on your mind?"

"Actually... yes. Something I wanted to ask you about because I'm just at a loss."

"Well you came to exactly the correct place, Ms. Prentiss. Let Auntie Garcia be your sage sounding board. Lay it on me."

"I... have you noticed something going on with JJ? She's seemed, I don't know, distant? Or cold, lately? I can't really put my finger on it, but she hasn't been herself lately. And it may be my imagination, but it seems like it's especially the case with me. She's still talking to everyone else--though less than normal--but it seems like she's avoiding me entirely, and I don't know what I did. Has she said anything to you?"

"Oh honey, it's not in your head. I've noticed it, too. She hasn't been the warm, kind JJ she normally is. She seems... grumpy? Right?"

"Yes! Grumpy. That's a good way to describe it. And really short with everyone, even Reid, which is unlike her."

"Agreed. Have you talked to her about it? I've wanted to but haven't had a chance. She blew me off for drinks last week." Garcia asked. 

"I think that's what is bugging me the most. I have tried--multiple times. But she just shuts it down and changes the subject or walks away. So then I try to just be normal and pretend she isn't ignoring me and, honestly Pen, it just hurts."

"Maybe that's what you need to say to her? Whatever it is going on with her, she doesn't mean to hurt or upset you."

"Yeah, I guess...." Emily trailed off, and zoned out.

"What is it?"

"Well, and I'm trying not to read anything into this, but I think I can pinpoint when it started."

"And?"

"And I think it started after the school bus case in New Jersey..." Garcia had a confused look on her face, so Emily elaborated. "... which is when I had my first date with Monica."

The two stared at each other for a beat before Emily spoke again.

"I absolutely hate that these thoughts are going through my head, but Derek told me that JJ hadn't known that I'm queer before then. I mean, that can't be it, right, Pen?"

"Oh, Em... you don't think she has a problem with it, do you? She couldn't!"

"JJ is the most open-minded, kind person alive. She doesn't bat an eye when we have cases with gay people or trans people or anything like that. But the timing fits, and it would explain why she's even more stand-off-ish with me than everyone else." Emily's voice cracked slightly, as the weight and pain of the fears she had avoided verbalizing before then spilled out.

Garcia stood up and enveloped Emily in a warm hug, pressing her head into her shoulder with a hand on the back of her head.

"Em, I'm 100% positive that JJ is not homophobic and does not have a problem with you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah... but you're right that I think something is going on, and you should really try to talk to her about it. If she won't talk to you, you can do the talking and tell her what you told me. Tell her that you're worried you did something and that you miss your friend."

"Yeah, I guess. Ugh, I don't know whether I feel better or worse having confirmed it's not just in my head."

"Oh, Em... this has really been weighing on you, hasn't it?"

"Yeah... it really has. But you're right about talking to her. I'll find the time. Thanks, Penelope."

"The all-knowing oracle goddess is good for more than just technology, you know," Garcia grinned.

Emily laughed, "Oh, I know. I'm glad you were here this morning. And keep this between us for now, yeah?"

Garcia mimed locking her lips and throwing away a key, and Emily laughed again. 

"Alright, I'll let you get back to your game... you've got about an hour before the morning briefing."

"Yes ma'am! You don't have to tell me twice!" Garcia had her headphones back on and the game resumed before Emily had even left the office.

* * *

  
Four days passed before Emily had an opportunity to try to talk to JJ. Who would have thought that it would be such a challenge to have a conversation with someone actively avoiding you? It was the end of the day--a Thursday--and Emily was about to break, so she finally pushed.

"Hey JJ... any plans this weekend?" she asked, casually. She knew what the answer would be, and she intended to use it to her advantage.

"Nope... nothing specific," she responded, not even bothering to stop packing her bag to go home.

"Good," Emily said. "Girls' night at my place tomorrow night. Me and you. Wine and pizza. A cheesy and/or scary movie. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

This finally stopped JJ's rummaging through her briefcase, and Emily saw her openly sigh before she looked up at her.

"I don't know, Em. I have been pretty wiped this week. I think I'd prefer to just be able to hit the hay early if we don't get called away on a case."

"Well then you better get some good sleep tonight. I mean it--no refusals. We haven't had a pizza and movie night in months," Emily noted.

JJ mumbled something unintelligble under her breath, and Emily could swear she heard "girlfriend" somewhere in there, but decided to ignore it and take Garcia's advice.

"Please, Jayje?" JJ looked up at Emily again, and Emily could swear she could see JJ's face soften at the nickname.

"I miss you. I would really like to hang out tomorrow," Emily said honestly. She took a breath. "I've actually been wanting to talk to you about something."

JJ looked stoic for a moment, mentally running through her options in her head before sighing and giving in. "Okay; you're right," she acquiesced. "I can't remember the last time we had a movie night, actually. That does sound nice."

Emily beamed. She was so happy, she couldn't contain it. "Great! Great... that's great. Okay, tomorrow night!"

JJ laughed--actually, audibly laughed--at how giddy Emily was. "Tomorrow night it is. But on that note, I do have to get out of here so I can get some rest."

  
"Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm headed out now, too. I'll walk with you out to the garage."  
  
JJ smiled and nodded at Emily, and Emily felt a relief and warmth that she'd been missing for over a month. Her friend--her JJ--was still in there, and she thought to herself that they would be okay.  
  
They chatted briefly--normally--about a stupid bet Reid and Derek had going as they waited for the elevators. And for a brief moment, Emily forgot about all the hurt and discomfort between them. The elevator arrived on their floor and the both stepped towards the doors to get on. But when the doors opened, JJ almost ran into the tall woman exiting the elevator car, and Emily's fleeting moment of joy went crashing through the floor.  
  
"Monica!" Prentiss exclaimed, almost involuntarily. All three women stepped back, away from the elevator as the doors closed, still empty.  
  
"Hey babe!" Monica slipped an arm around the small of Emily's back, softly kissing her cheek. "There you are. I tried texting you a little bit ago to see when you were getting off but I didn't hear back, so I thought I'd just stop by. Is that okay?" The woman suddenly looked nervous.  
  
"No, no, of course it's fine. It's just... JJ and I were just leaving," Emily said, gesturing towards the silent blond woman behind them.  
  
"JJ! Oh my gosh! I've heard so, so much about you! It's so wonderful to finally meet *THE* Jennifer Jareau!" she said excitedly, reaching out to shake a stunned JJ's hand, while still keeping her other arm firmly wrapped around Emily's waist.  
  
"Ohhh, uhhh," Emily's heart was racing, "JJ, this is Monica. Obviously, she knows who you are."  
  
"Right," JJ retorted. "Nice to meet you, Monica," she said curtly with a brief handshake. "Sorry, but I really do have to run. Night."   
  
And JJ spun on her heels and pushed open the door to the stairway, not even bothering to wait for the elevator.

 

 


End file.
